Method and system for replacing/obscuring titles and descriptions of recorded content

• US 20030007782A1
• Filed: 06/19/2002
• Published: 01/09/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 06/19/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: JLB Ventures, LLC
• Original Assignee: JLB Ventures, LLC
• Inventors: Kamen, Yakov
• Granted Patent: US 8,191,092 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 386/83
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/105 of operating discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/107 of operating tapes
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/34 Indicating arrangements indicating means incorporated in magazine or cassette G11B23/046 and G11B23/0875; indicating measured values in general G01D
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4147 PVR [Personal Video Recorder] H04N5/76 takes precedence ; arrangements for broadcast with accumulation-type receivers H04H20/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4332 by placing content in organized collections, e.g. local EPG data repository interfaces, Database management systems or updating for information retrieval G06F16/23; details of retrieval of video data and associated meta data in video database G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4542 Blocking scenes or portions of the received content, e.g. censoring scenes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4884 for displaying subtitles
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/76 Television signal recording
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/765 Interface circuits between an apparatus for recording and another apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/781 on disks or drums
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/85 on discs or drums
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/907 using static stores, e.g. storage tubes or semiconductor memories H04N5/91 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8042 involving data reduction

Abstract

A method and system for replacing and obscuring titles and/or descriptions pertaining to individual pieces of recorded content. In one embodiment, the method enables a user, such as a parent, to rename titles and replace descriptions for selected pieces of content, thereby obscuring the content information for those pieces of content from other users, such as children. In another embodiment, the method enables an administrative user (e.g., a parent) to define allowed access levels and assign the same to various users of the system. The administrative user is also enabled to assign access levels to individual pieces of content. In response to a user selection to view content information pertaining to recorded content, the system identifies the user and determines whether to display an original title/description or a new title/description based on the allowed access levels assigned to the user and the respective access levels assigned to the pieces of content.

Claims

1. A method for obscuring descriptive information pertaining to recorded content stored on a set-top box, comprising:

generating a user interface via which a user may select a title corresponding to a piece of content the user wishes to obscure;

generating a user interface via which the user may replace an original title of the piece of content that was selected with a new title;

storing data linking the new title to the piece of content; and

displaying the new title in place of the original title when displaying content information pertaining to the recorded content stored on the set-top box.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the operations of the method are implemented via one of a personal video recorder (PVR) or digital video recorder (DVR), and the user interface is displayed on a television connected to the PVR or DVR.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the content information further includes original descriptions for the pieces of content, and wherein the user interface further enables the user to replace an original description corresponding to a selected piece of content with a new description that is displayed in place of the original description when the content information is subsequently viewed.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein only users having administrator rights are enabled to change the titles of the pieces of content, further comprising determining whether a current user of the set-top box is assigned administrator rights, and if so, enabling the user to access the user interface via which the user may rename a title, otherwise preventing the user from accessing the user interface.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing a password that must be entered prior to enabling the user to rename the title of the piece of content; and

in response to a user request to rename a title;

generating a user interface including a password enter box via which the user may enter the password; and

determining if the password entered by the user matches the stored password, and if so, enabling the user to rename the title, otherwise denying the user from renaming the title.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

assigning allowed access rights to users;

assigning required access rights to the pieces of content;

and wherein, in response to a request to view content information pertaining to the recorded content,

determining allowed access rights for a current user; and

displaying original titles in the content information corresponding to respective pieces of content the user is allowed to access based on the allowed access rights assigned to the user and the required access rights assigned to the respective pieces of content, otherwise replacing the original titles with the new titles for pieces of content the user is not allowed to access.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising enabling the new titles to comprise hidden titles such that titles having required access rights that are not among the allowed access rights for a user are not displayed in the content information when that user is using the set-top box.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

generating a user interface via which an administrative user may assign zero or more allowed access levels to the administrative user and/or other users that may use the set-top box;

generating a user interface via which the administrative user may select a piece of content for which access control is to be applied;

generating a user interface via which the administrative user may assign an access level to the piece of content; and

implementing a control access scheme that enables a user to view content information corresponding to the piece of content if an allowed access level assigned to the user matches the access level assigned to the piece of content.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein implementation of the control access scheme includes the operations of:

storing data specifying the allowed access level(s) assigned to each user;

storing data specifying the access levels assigned to the respective pieces of content;

and wherein, in response to a request to view content information pertaining to the recorded content,

identifying the user; and

filtering the content information such, for each respective piece of content, an original title or new title is displayed based on the allowed access level(s) assigned to the user and the access level assigned to the respective piece of content.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the user interface that enables the administrative user to assign an access level to the piece of content further includes information identifying at least one of users who are allowed to access original content information and users who are denied access to the original content information based on a currently-selected access level.

11. A machine-readable media having instructions stored thereon, which when executed on a set-top box perform the operations of:

generating a user interface via which a user may select a piece of content the user wishes to obscure content information for;

generating a user interface via which the user may replace an original title corresponding to the piece of content that was selected with a new title;

storing data linking the new title to the piece of content; and

displaying the new title in place of the original title when displaying content information pertaining to recorded content stored on the set-top box.

12. The machine-readable media of claim 11, wherein the set-top box comprises one of a personal video recorder (PVR) or digital video recorder (DVR), and the user interface is displayed on a television connected to the PVR or DVR.

13. The machine-readable media of claim 11, wherein the content information further includes original descriptions for the pieces of content, and wherein the user interface further enables the user to replace an original description corresponding to a selected piece of content with a new description that is displayed in place of the original description when the content information is subsequently viewed.

14. The machine-readable media of claim 11, wherein only users having administrator rights are enabled to change the titles of the pieces of content, wherein execution of the instructions further performs the operations of determining whether a current user of the set-top box is assigned administrator rights, and if so, enabling the user to access the user interface via which the user may rename a title, otherwise preventing the user from accessing the user interface.

15. The machine-readable media of claim 11, wherein execution of the instructions further performs the operations of:

storing a password that must be entered prior to enabling the user to rename the title of a piece of content; and

in response to a user request to rename a title;

generating a user interface including a password entry box via which the user may enter the password; and

determining if the password entered by the user matches the stored password, and if so, enabling the user to rename the title, otherwise denying the user from renaming the title.

16. The machine-readable media of claim 11, wherein execution of the instructions further performs the operations of:

generating a user interface by which allowed access rights may be assigned to users;

generating a user interface by which required access rights may be assigned to the pieces of content;

and wherein, in response to a request to view content information pertaining to the recorded content performing the operations of,

determining allowed access rights for a current user; and

displaying original titles in the content information corresponding to respective pieces of content the user is allowed to access based on the allowed access rights assigned to the user and the required access rights assigned to the respective pieces of content, otherwise replacing the original titles with the new titles for pieces of content the user is not allowed to access.

17. The machine-readable media of claim 16, wherein execution of the instructions further performs the operation of generating a user interface via which a user may hide titles such that titles corresponding to pieces of content having required access rights that are not among the allowed access rights for a user are not displayed in the content information.

18. The machine-readable media of claim 16, wherein execution of the instructions further performs the operations of:

generating a user interface via which an administrative user may assign zero or more allowed access levels to the administrative user and/or other users that may use the set-top box;

generating a user interface via which the administrative user may select a piece of content for which access control is to be applied;

generating a user interface via which the administrative user may assign an access level to the piece of content; and

implementing a control access scheme that enables a user to view content information corresponding to the piece of content if an allowed access level assigned to the user matches the access level assigned to the piece of content.

19. The machine-readable media of claim 18, wherein execution of the instructions implements the control access scheme by performing the operations of:

storing data specifying the allowed access level(s) assigned to each user;

storing data specifying the access levels assigned to the respective pieces of content;

and wherein, in response to a request to view content information pertaining to the recorded content performing the operations of,

identifying the user; and

filtering the content information such, for each respective piece of content, an original title or new title is displayed based on the allowed access level(s) assigned to the user and the access level assigned to the respective piece of content.

20. The machine-readable media of claim 18, wherein the user interface that enables the administrative user to assign an access level to the piece of content further includes information identifying at least one of users who are allowed to access original content information and users who are denied access to the original content information based on a currently-selected access level.